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March 10, 2007

Life without Metadata

Have you ever thought about what life without metadata would be like? Not the traditional database metadata, but retail metadata - the kind of metadata that appears on every product inside Wal-Mart, Kroger and Publix. For example, consider a simple bottle of aspirin, where the metadata on the box includes the manufacturer, ingredients, volume, quantity, directions and safety warnings. Open the box, and there is an insert with even more metadata on how and when to use the product. Not to mention the bottle itself, which repeats much of the metadata that was on the box, only in smaller print.
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Chris Saad has followed this article up with some delightful insight into the needs of metadata in the 2.0 world.

When we come across a blog, I think that most people look for the subscriber count and consider (at least at the back of their mind and as part of a larger value judgement) whether or not they should add the author to their subscription list based on how authoritative that number makes them. Adding someone to your feed list is a relatively big decision. So the 'subscriber count' metadata is important

Posted by Todd at 12:39 PM

March 7, 2007

Design and Usability are Irrelevant in Web 2.0

Wait! I can hear ever reader out there saying that in the Web 2.0 world design and usability are not big issues. The contribution will be based on the value of the content not the look and feel. Of course, that’s why we buy a Lexus versus a dune buggy because we only want to get to point A to point B. Please, give me a break; you can’t honestly believe that.

Imagine for a moment that web communications is like owning a home and the original web was like living with your parents. If you didn’t know how to landscape a yard then you just cut it as your Dad told you to do. If you didn’t have an inkling of interior design then that hand-me down furniture with neon posters worked fine. If you didn’t understand the architecture of remodeling then you shared a bathroom with your three sisters. Same thing with Web 1.0 design and usability, if you didn’t understand Human Computer Interaction, HTML or Metadata then you stayed at home and used whatever your management told you.

Early or Pre 2.0 applications like discussions threads or community sites was like leaving home and renting an apartment. Of course, you felt the freedom and exhilaration of being on your own and being able to say and do whatever you wanted to do. However, you couldn’t change the infrastructure even if you had skills in design, the landlord would have kept that 2 month security fee. Rules were everywhere; no parking, no parties, no noise, no boats, etc. It was better than living at home but your freedoms were limited.

The emergence of Web 2.0 is like moving into your own home. You are now responsible for the look, the design, the content, and the perception decreed by the environment. If you want to plant Kudzo in the front yard because you have childhood memories of failure then that’s ok. If you want to paint your house with a giant “Wonder Bread” design then knock yourself out. Do you like that seventies look? They still have those Forrest Green and Harvest Gold appliances available and shag carpet may be making a comeback. The point is that you control things now and you don’t need to know HTML or .Net programming but you still have an image or brand to protect. Design and usability don’t become irrelevant, they become distinguishing. There are 55 million voices out there and your just one of them, you are going to need all of the help you can get.

Posted by Todd at 5:13 PM

March 5, 2007

Paving the Cow Paths

Web 1.0 was about “Paving the Caw Paths”; we took the current and well defined business processes and simply automated them with faster and faster technology. While many will argue that Business Processing Reengineering efforts are redefining the way in which business gets done but from the 50,000 foot level, it’s much of the same. The idea of a cow path was to define a walk where all of the cows would follow one after another as if lead by some force of nature. Web 2.0 networks the cows together and allows them to define the best path for the situation they are in. One would expect to see mass chaos emerge but how to you think the original path was formed? Farmer Brown didn’t go out there with his shovel and declare all cows will follow this path. The essence of 2.0 is to review and evolve that path depending on the changes in the community and the environment.

Posted by Todd at 6:57 PM